According to Futurism, this doesn't solve anything and in fact it just masks the bigger issue. A team of researchers from the University of Virginia has studied the psychology behind the slogan "Reduce. Reuse. Recycle" and they say that many people count too much on recycling.

While recycling definitely helps us reduce the environmental issue that we have at hand, it is not a be all end all solution. In fact, scientists suggest that quite a number of people don't even know exactly which products are truly recyclable and by counting on every product being that way, they are essentially ignoring the growing waste issue.

In one experiment, researchers asked to organize the words reduce, reuse, recycle in the order of their efficiency as a way of life, which is exactly as listed here. 78% of the people got the order wrong, by over-emphasising the recycling aspect.

When it comes to sorting waste, people don't do much better either, the scientists found. By using a computer-based program, they asked people to sort the generated waste by which is recyclable and which isn't. Unfortunately, many people missed the mark here, as well, by putting products such as plastic bags and lightbulbs in the recycle bin.

One potential solution to this problem is more educational campaigns, teaching people how to reduce and reuse and only use recycling as a last-resort thing. In an ideal circular economy, recycling only comes in last and prevention is the ideal solution to live in a green world.